Trump ban on Muslims ‘endangers US security’

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Donald Trump Sunday, saying the Republican frontrunner’s calls to ban Muslims from entering the United States “endanger national security.”
“To outright ban people, because they belong to one particular religion? That’s just stunningly contrary to the fundamental values of our nation, which were built on tolerance,” Kerry said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” program.
Trump called for the temporary ban earlier this week after a Muslim husband and wife killed 14 people in a shooting rampage in California that has been classified as a terrorist act.
Meanwhile, Trump pushed back against party leaders reportedly looking to block his path to the presidential nomination, saying they were “kidding themselves,” as rival Ted Cruz surged in polls.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Republican powerbrokers argued at a recent dinner that the party should plan to coalesce around an alternative at the nominating convention if Trump storms through the primaries.
“I think they’re making a big mistake. I think I’m the one to beat Hillary,” Trump told Fox News Sunday, referring to the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I think they are rather kidding themselves.”
A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Trump in the lead with 27 percent among Republicans nationally, and other polls give him similar leads in many state contests for the party’s presidential nomination.